Integrated audiovisual system

ABSTRACT

An integrated audio-visual system is disclosed for delivering an event to one or more spectators. The integrated audio-visual system includes one or more loudspeakers that are positioned behind one or more visual displays to be effectively behind the one or more visual displays to be shielded from the field of view of the one or more spectators. The one or more visual displays are specially designed and manufactured to allow sound associated with the event to propagate from the one or more loudspeakers with minimal acoustical distortion and/or minimum acoustical vibration while presenting a visual representation of the event to the one or more spectators. Moreover, the one or more loudspeakers and the one or more visual displays are situated to be a predetermined displacement from each other to further minimize acoustical distortion.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/898,142, filed on Jun. 10, 2020, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/859,930, filed on Jun. 11, 2019, each ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The United States Media and Entertainment Industry is the largest in theworld. The United States Media and Entertainment Industry represents athird of the global media and entertainment industry which deliversevents, such as musical events, theatrical events, sporting events,and/or motion picture events, to spectators for their viewing pleasure.Presently, venues, such as music venues and/or sporting venues toprovide an example, deliver these events to the spectators usingconventional audio-visual systems having various display screenssurrounded by loudspeakers in plain sight of the spectators. Not only dothese conventional loudspeakers occupy space in the venues that could beused for displaying the event, venues often undergo various measures tocover these conventional loudspeakers from the field of view of thespectators.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Aspects of the present disclosure are best understood from the followingdetailed description when read with the accompanying figures. It isnoted that, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry,features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of the featuresmay be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.

FIG. 1 illustrates a pictorial representation of an exemplary venueaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a pictorial representation of an exemplary integratedaudio-visual system that can be implemented within the exemplary venueaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B illustrate simplified diagrams of exemplaryoperations of the exemplary integrated audio-visual system according toexemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary visual display thatcan be implemented within the exemplary integrated audio-visual systemaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary arrangement of visual display panelsthat that can be implemented within the exemplary integratedaudio-visual system according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary visual display panel that that can beimplemented within the exemplary integrated audio-visual systemaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following disclosure provides many different embodiments, orexamples, for implementing different features of the provided subjectmatter. Specific examples of components and arrangements are describedbelow to simplify the present disclosure. These are, of course, merelyexamples and are not intended to be limiting. For example, the formationof a first feature over a second feature in the description that followsmay include embodiments in which the first and second features areformed in direct contact, and may also include embodiments in whichadditional features may be formed between the first and second features,such that the first and second features may not be in direct contact. Inaddition, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/orletters in the examples. This repetition does not in itself dictate arelationship between the embodiments and/or configurations discussed.

Overview

An integrated audio-visual system is disclosed for delivering an eventto one or more spectators. The integrated audio-visual system includesone or more loudspeakers that are positioned behind one or more visualdisplays to be effectively behind the one or more visual displays to beshielded from the field of view of the one or more spectators. The oneor more visual displays are specially designed and manufactured to allowsound associated with the event to propagate from the one or moreloudspeakers with minimal acoustical distortion and/or minimumacoustical vibration while presenting a visual representation of theevent to the one or more spectators. Moreover, the one or moreloudspeakers and the one or more visual displays are situated to be apredetermined displacement from each other to further minimizeacoustical distortion.

Exemplary Venue

FIG. 1 illustrates a pictorial representation of an exemplary venueaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. In theexemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, a venue 100 represents alocation for hosting an event. For example, the venue 100 can representa music venue, for example, a music theater, a music club, and/or aconcert hall, a sporting venue, for example, an arena, a conventioncenter, and/or a stadium, and/or any other suitable venue that will beapparent to those skilled in the relevant (s) without departing thespirit and scope of the present disclosure. The event can represent amusical event, a theatrical event, a sporting event, a motion picture,and/or any other suitable event that will be apparent to those skilledin the relevant (s) without departing the spirit and scope of thepresent disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 1, one or more spectators 102experience visual and/or auditory representations of the event deliveredfrom an integrated audio-visual system 104 within the venue 100.Although the discussion of the integrated audio-visual system 104, aswell as other integrated audio-visual systems described herein, tofollow describes these integrated audio-visual systems as deliveringsound and visual representations of an event, those skilled in therelevant art(s) will recognize that the sound and the visualrepresentation delivered by these integrated audio-visual systems neednot be related to the same event without departing from the spirit andscope of the present disclosure. For example, these integratedaudio-visual systems can deliver sound of a musical song that isunrelated to a visual representation of a motion picture.

As to be described in further detail below, the integrated audio-visualsystem 104 delivers an audiovisual viewing experience of the event tothe one or more spectators 102 through accurate and precise integrationof its audiovisual components. For example, the audiovisual componentswithin the integrated audio-visual system 104 can include one or moreloudspeakers for delivering sound representing an audio component of theevent to the one or more spectators 102. Herein, the terms “loudspeaker”or “loudspeakers” refer to electrical, mechanical, and/orelectro-mechanical devices which convert an electrical audio signal intoa corresponding sound. Loudspeakers and/or loudspeakers can include oneor more super tweeters, one or more tweeters, one or more mid-rangespeakers, one or more woofers, one or more subwoofers, one or morefull-range speakers to provide some examples. Herein, the term “sound”refers to electrical waveforms in the general audible frequency whosefrequency is in the band audible to the average human. Those skilled inthe relevant art(s) will recognize the generally accepted standard rangeof audible frequencies for humans is between approximately 20 Hertz (Hz)and approximately 20 kilohertz (kHz). In some situations, at least someof these loudspeakers can be particularly arranged to form one or moreline arrays of loudspeakers. In this example, the audiovisual componentswithin the integrated audio-visual system 104 can further include one ormore visual displays, such as one or more light-emitting diode (LED)displays, one or more organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays,and/or one or more quantum dots (QDs) displays to provide some examples,for delivering a visual component of the event to the one or morespectators 102.

The one or more visual displays, as to be further described in moredetail below, are specially designed and manufactured to allow soundassociated with the event to propagate from the one or more loudspeakersto the one or more spectators 102 with minimal acoustical distortionand/or minimum acoustical vibration while presenting the visualrepresentation of the event to the one or more spectators 102. Forexample, the one or more visual displays are particularly designed andmanufactured onto one or more substrates, such as printed circuit boardsubstrates or semiconductor substrates to provide some examples, havingopenings to allow the sound associated with the event to propagate fromthe one or more loudspeakers effectively passing through the one or morevisual displays onto the one or more spectators 102. Moreover, the oneor more loudspeakers and the one or more visual displays are situatedwithin the integrated audio-visual system 104 to be a predetermineddisplacement distance from each other. This predetermined displacementcan allow for the formation of one or more wavefronts of the soundbefore the sound passes through the openings of the one or more visualdisplays to further minimize acoustical distortion.

Exemplary Integrated Audio-Visual System that can be Implemented withinthe Exemplary Venue

FIG. 2 illustrates a pictorial representation of an exemplary integratedaudio-visual system that can be implemented within the exemplary venueaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As to bedescribed below, an integrated audio-visual system 200 is speciallydesigned and manufactured to allow sound representing an audio componentof an event to propagate through one or more visual displays while thesevisual displays are delivering a visual representation of the event. Asillustrated in FIG. 2, the integrated audio-visual system 200 includes avisual display mechanical housing 202, a visual display 204, aloudspeaker mechanical housing 206, and one or more loudspeakers 208.The integrated audio-visual system 200 can represent an exemplaryembodiment of the integrated audio-visual system 104 as described abovein FIG. 1.

The visual display mechanical housing 202 represents a mechanicalhousing for securing the visual display 204. The visual displaymechanical housing 202 can be implemented using one or more metallicmaterials, such as iron, steel, copper, bronze, brass, aluminum, ormagnesium to provide some examples, one or more non-metallic materials,such as wood, plastic, or glass, and/or any combination thereof. Asillustrated in FIG. 2, the visual display mechanical housing 202represents a frame or a housing for mechanically securing the visualdisplay 204 from substantial acoustical vibration that can occur as thesound passes through the visual display 204. As to be described infurther detail below, the visual display 204 can include multiple visualdisplay panels that functionally cooperate to deliver the visualrepresentation of the event. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated inFIG. 2, the visual display mechanical housing 202 can include one ormore mechanical cross members 210 for securing the multiple visualdisplay panels to the visual display mechanical housing 202. The one ormore mechanical cross members 210 can be designed and manufactured toallow the sound associated with the event to propagate from the one ormore loudspeakers 208 through the visual display mechanical housing 202with minimal distortion and/or minimum acoustical vibration.

The visual display 204 delivers a visual component of the event. In theexemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the visual display 204includes multiple visual display panels that functionally cooperate todeliver the visual representation of the event. In this exemplaryembodiment, these multiple visual display panels are mechanicallyattached to the visual display mechanical housing 202 using the one ormore mechanical cross members 210. For example, these multiple visualdisplay panels can be arranged as a series of rows and a series ofcolumns of visual display panels to form an array of visual displaypanels. In this example, rows of visual display panels can bemechanically attached to the mechanical cross members 210. Moreover, themultiple visual display panels include visual emission elements 212,such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic light-emitting diode(OLEDs), and/or quantum dots (QDs) to provide some examples, to deliverthe visual representation of the event. In an exemplary embodiment, thevisual emission elements 212 can be arranged as a series of rows and aseries of columns of visual emission elements to form an array of visualemission elements 212 to deliver the visual representation of the eventas illustrated in FIG. 2. However, those skilled in the relevant art(s)will recognize other arrangements as possible for the visual emissionelements 212 without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentdisclosure. As additionally illustrated in FIG. 2, the visual emissionelements 212 can be situated onto a substrate 214, such as a printedcircuit board substrate or a semiconductor substrate to provide someexamples. In an exemplary embodiment, the visual emission elements 212can be situated onto the substrate 214 using reflow soldering and/orwave soldering to provide some examples. In this exemplary embodiment,the substrate 214 can include an arrangement of pads, also referred toas footprints, to attach the visual emission elements 212 onto thesubstrate 214. As further illustrated in FIG. 2, the substrate 214 caninclude one or more openings 216 to allow the sound associated with theevent to propagate through the visual display 204 with minimaldistortion and/or vibration as to be described in further detail below.The one or more openings 216 represent geometric regions within thevisual display 204 in which the substrate 214 has been removed. In theexemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the one or more openings 216can be characterized as being rectangular geometric shapes asillustrated in FIG. 2, circular geometric shapes, or polygonal geometricshapes to provide some examples, and/or any suitable irregular geometricshapes, such as an irregular polygonal geometric shapes to provide anexample are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent disclosure. It should be noted that the visual emission elements212 and/or the number of the one or more openings 216 illustrated inFIG. 2 are for exemplary purposes only. Those skilled in the relevantart(s) will recognize the visual display 204 can include more or lessvisual emission elements 212 and/or the number of the one or moreopenings 216 than illustrated in FIG. 2 without departing from thespirit and scope of the present disclosure.

The loudspeaker mechanical housing 206 represents a mechanical housingfor securing the one or more loudspeakers 208 to be effectively behindthe visual display 204. The loudspeaker mechanical housing 206 can beimplemented using one or more metallic materials, such as iron, steel,copper, bronze, brass, aluminum, or magnesium to provide some examples,one or more non-metallic materials, such as wood, plastic, or glass,and/or any combination thereof. As illustrated in FIG. 2, theloudspeaker mechanical housing 206 represents a frame or a housing formechanically securing the one or more loudspeakers 208. In an exemplaryembodiment, the loudspeaker mechanical housing 206 is designed andmanufactured to mechanically dampen at least some of the acousticalvibration generated by the one or more loudspeakers 208 in providing thesound. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, theloudspeaker mechanical housing 206 mechanically positions the one ormore loudspeakers 208 to be effectively behind the visual display 204 tobe shielded from the field of view of the one or more spectators.

The one or more loudspeakers 208 deliver the sound representing an audiocomponent of the event. The one or more loudspeakers 208 can include oneor more super tweeters, one or more tweeters, one or more mid-rangespeakers, one or more woofers, one or more subwoofers, one or morefull-range speakers, and/or any other suitable device that is capable ofreproducing the audible frequency range, or a portion thereof, that willbe apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. In some situations,the one or more loudspeakers 208 can include multiple loudspeakersmounted in a theoretical line to form one or more line arrays ofloudspeakers which are fed in phase. In some situations, loudspeakerswithin each line array of loudspeakers are of similar speaker type, forexample, super tweeters, tweeters, mid-range speakers, woofers,subwoofers, or full-range speakers. In other situations, multiple linearrays of loudspeakers can be stacked onto each other at slightlydifferent vertical angles to cover a greater depth of field than asingle line array of loudspeakers. As to be described in further detailbelow, the visual display 204 and the one or more loudspeakers 208 aresituated to be a predetermined displacement from each other. Thispredetermined displacement allows for the formation of the sound by theone or more loudspeakers 208 before the sound passes through theopenings of the visual display 204 to further minimize acousticaldistortion.

Exemplary Operation of the Exemplary Integrated Audio-Visual System

FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B illustrate simplified diagrams of exemplaryoperations of the exemplary integrated audio-visual system according toexemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. As described above inFIG. 2, the one or more auditory speakers 208 generate an auditorywaveform representing an audio component of an event which propagatesthrough the visual display 204 while the visual display 204 isdelivering a visual representation of the event. As illustrated in FIG.3A, the one or more loudspeakers 208 generate sound 302 representing theaudio component of the event which propagates through the visual display204. FIG. 3A illustrates an exemplary side view of the visual display204 and the one or more loudspeakers 208. Those skilled in the relevantart(s) will recognize the waveform 302 can differ from that depicted inFIG. 3A and FIG. 3B based upon different implementations of the visualdisplay 204 and/or the one or more loudspeakers 208 without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. In the exemplaryembodiment illustrated in FIG. 3A, the sound 302 represents a plane wavethat can be characterized by planar wavefronts 304.1 through 304.k. Theplanar wavefronts 304.1 through 304.k, which represent surfaces ofconstant phase of the sound 302, are further illustrated in FIG. 3B asbeing parallel planes normal to a phase velocity vector 306.

In the exemplary embodiments illustrated in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B, thevisual display 204 can introduce acoustical distortion into the sound302 as the sound 302 propagates through the openings of the visualdisplay 204. However, as illustrated in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B anddescribed above, the visual display 204 and the one or more loudspeakers208 can be situated to be a predetermined displacement, denoted asdisplacement distance D in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B, from each other tominimize this acoustical distortion. The displacement distance D allowsfor one or more of the planar wavefronts 304.1 through 304.k to beformed before the sound 302 passes through the openings of the visualdisplay 204 to minimize acoustical distortion of the sound 302 as thesound 302 propagates through the openings of the visual display 204. Inan exemplary embodiment, the displacement distance D is approximately 50centimeters (cm).

Exemplary Visual Display that can be Implemented within the ExemplaryIntegrated Audio-Visual System

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary visual display thatcan be implemented within the exemplary integrated audio-visual systemaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. A visualdisplay system 400 delivers a visual component of an event to one ormore spectators as described above. In the exemplary embodimentillustrated in FIG. 4, the visual display system 400 includes aprocessor 402, routing fabric 404.1 through 404.s, and visual displaypanels 406.1.1 through 406.r.s. The visual display system 400 canrepresent an exemplary embodiment of the visual display 204 as describedabove in FIG. 2.

The processor 402 controls overall configuration and/or operation of thevisual display system 400. In an exemplary embodiment, the processor 402can be situated remote from the routing fabric 404.1 through 404.s andthe visual display panels 406.1.1 through 406.r.s. For example, thevisual display system 400 can be located within a venue, such as thevenue 100 as described above. In this example embodiment, the processor402 can be implemented using a series of one or more processors that canbe mounted in one or more equipment racks in a different location, forexample, a different room, within the venue than the visual displaypanels 406.1.1 through 406.r.s. In the exemplary embodiment illustratedin FIG. 4, the processor 402 receives digital video data 450representing the visual component of the event to deliver to the one ormore spectators. Preferably, the event can be pre-recorded onto storedon a machine-readable medium, which can be read and executed by one ormore processors. A machine-readable medium can include any mechanism forstoring or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine(e.g., a computing circuitry). For example, a machine-readable mediumcan include non-transitory machine-readable mediums such as read onlymemory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media;optical storage media; flash memory devices; and others. As anotherexample, the machine-readable medium can include transitorymachine-readable medium such as electrical, optical, acoustical, orother forms of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infraredsignals, digital signals, etc.). Thereafter, a media distribution systemcan provide the event is stored on the machine-readable medium to theprocessor as the digital video data 450. This media distribution systemcan be within a venue, such as the venue 100, or outside of the venuewith capabilities to service multiple venues. Alternatively, the digitalvideo data 450 representing the event can be streamed to the processor402 in real-time, or near real-time, as the event is occurring. In anexemplary embodiment, the processor 402 can supplement the digital videodata 450 with supplemental digital data, such as virtual advertising andgraphic effects, prior to delivering the digital video data 450 to thevisual display panels 406.1.1 through 406.r.s.

The processor 402 processes the digital video data 450 to provide thecontrol signals 452.1 through 452.s. In the exemplary embodimentillustrated in FIG. 4, each control signal from among the controlsignals 452.1 through 452.s configures a corresponding group of visualdisplay panels from among the visual display panels 406.1.1 through406.r.s, for example, a corresponding column of visual display panels,to deliver their corresponding portion of the visual component of theevent to one or more spectators. For example, the processor 402 can map,referred to as pixel map, the digital video data 450 from an image spaceinto a display space for display onto the visual display panels 406.1.1through 406.r.s. In this example, the pixels of the digital video data450 can be assigned to various coordinates in the image space and thevisual display panels 406.1.1 through 406.r.s can be assigned to variouscoordinates in the display space. In this example, the processor 402translates or maps the pixels of the digital video data 450 from theimage space to the display space. Thereafter, the processor 402 providesthe control signals 452.1 through 452.s to cause the display panels406.1.1 through 406.r.s to display the digital video data 450 in thedisplay space. In an exemplary embodiment, the control signals 452.1through 452.s can represent serial control signals with these serialcontrol signals corresponding to groups of visual display panels fromamong the visual display panels 406.1.1 through 406.r.s, for example,corresponding columns of visual display panels. Alternatively, or inaddition to, the control signals 452.1 through 452.s can representparallel control signals with these parallel control signalscorresponding to individual visual display panels from among the visualdisplay panels 406.1.1 through 406.r.s. In some situations, the digitalvideo data 450 can be encoded in accordance with a video coding format,such as a version of a Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) video codingformat or a version of an AOMedia Video 1 (AV1) video coding format toprovide some examples. In these situations, the processor 402 decodesthe digital video data 450 in accordance with the format beforeprocessing the digital video data 450, as to be described in furtherdetail below, for delivery to the visual display panels 406.1.1 through406.r.s. Optionally, the processor 402 can perform motion compensation,inverse discrete cosine transforms (iDCTs), inverse modified discretecosine transforms (iMDCTs), in-loop deblocking filters, intra-framepredictions, inverse quantizations (IQs), variable-length decoding(VLD), spatial-temporal deinterlacing, automatic interlace/progressivesource detection, and/or bitstream processing and perfect pixelpositioning to manipulate the images, or the series or images, of theevent within the digital video data 450.

The routing fabric 404.1 through 404.s selectively routes the controlsignals 452.1 through 452.s for delivery to the visual display panels406.1.1 through 406.r.s as control signals 454.1.1 through 454.r.s. Insome situations, the processor 402 can be communicatively coupled to therouting fabric 404.1 through 404.s using suitable communication mediums,such as one or more Ethernet networking cables, such as one or morecategory 5 (Cat 5) or category 6 (Cat 6) Ethernet networking cables toprovide some examples, one or more optical fiber cables, and/or one ormore copper core communication cables, such as one or more coaxialcables, one or more ribbon cables, one or more shielded cables, and/orone or more twinax cables to provide some examples. In the exemplaryembodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the routing fabric 404.1 through 404.scan convert the control signals 452.1 through 452.s from serial controlsignals to provide the as control signals 454.1.1 through 454.r.s asparallel control signals for delivery to the visual display panels406.1.1 through 406.r.s. As to be described in further detail below, thevisual display panels 406.1.1 through 406.r.s can be arranged as aseries of r rows and a series of s columns of visual display panels toform an array of visual display panels.

The visual display panels 406.1.1 through 406.r.s utilize the controlsignals 454.1.1 through 454.r.s to collectively deliver the visualcomponent of the event to one or more spectators. In an exemplaryembodiment, the visual display panels 406.1.1 through 406.r.s can bearranged as a series of r rows and a series of s columns of visualdisplay panels to form an array of visual display panels. In theexemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the visual display panels406.1.1 through 406.r.s utilize the control signals 454.1.1 through454.r.s to control operation of various visual emission elements of thevisual display panels 406.1.1 through 406.r.s to collectively deliverthe visual component of the event to one or more spectators. In thisexemplary embodiment, the control signals 454.1.1 through 454.r.s canrepresent power signals, ground signals, clocking signals, and/or anyother suitable signal that can be used to control the operation of thevarious visual emission elements that will be apparent to those skilledin the relevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present disclosure. Moreover, the various visual emission elementscan include light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic light-emitting diode(OLEDs), quantum dots (QDs), and/or any combination thereof to deliverthe visual representation of the event. The control signals 454.1.1through 454.r.s can be utilized to activate, or turn-on, these variousvisual emission elements to emit light with the color and/or intensityof the light being dependent upon chemical properties of the variousvisual emission elements. Alternatively, or in addition to, the controlsignals 454.1.1 through 454.r.s can be utilized to deactivate, orturn-off, these various visual emission elements to not emit light. Forexample, the control signals 454.1.1 through 454.r.s can be configuredto forward bias the various visual emission elements to activate thesevisual emission elements or to reverse bias the various visual emissionelements to deactivate these visual emission elements.

Exemplary Arrangement of Visual Display Panels that can be Implementedwithin the Exemplary Integrated Audio-Visual System

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary arrangement of visual display panelsthat that can be implemented within the exemplary integratedaudio-visual system according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure. As described above in FIG. 4, the visual display panels406.1.1 through 406.r.s can be arranged as the series of r rows and theseries of s columns of visual display panels to form the array of visualdisplay panels. FIG. 5 illustrates such an arrangement of the visualdisplay panels 406.1.1 through 406.r.s in the series of r rows and theseries of s columns.

Exemplary Visual Display Panel that can be Implemented within theExemplary Integrated Audio-Visual System

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary visual display panel that that can beimplemented within the exemplary integrated audio-visual systemaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. In theexemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, a visual display panel 600can be specially designed and manufactured to allow sound, such as thesound 302 as described above in FIG. 3, of an event to propagate fromone or more loudspeakers to one or more spectators of the event withminimal acoustical distortion and/or minimum acoustical vibration whilepresenting a visual representation of the event to the one or morespectators. As to be described below, the visual display panel 600 isparticularly designed and manufactured onto a printed circuit boardsubstrate having openings to allow the sound associated with the eventto propagate from the one or more loudspeakers effectively passingthrough the visual display panel 600 onto the one or more spectators. Asillustrated in FIG. 6, the visual display panel 600 includes visualemission elements 602.1.1 through 602.m.n that are situated onto aprinted circuit board substrate 604.

In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, the visual emissionelements 602.1.1 through 602.m.n can be arranged in a series of m rowsand a series of n columns onto the printed circuit board substrate 604to form a rectangular array of visual emission elements. However, thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize other arrangements for thevisual emission elements 602.1.1 through 602.m.n are possible withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Forexample, the visual emission elements 602.1.1 through 602.m.n and/or theprinted circuit board substrate 604 can be any suitable regulargeometric shape, such as a rectangular geometric shape as illustrated inFIG. 6, a circular geometric shape, or a polygonal geometric shape toprovide some examples, and/or any suitable irregular geometric shape,such as an irregular polygonal geometric shape to provide an example arepossible without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentdisclosure. Furthermore, although the visual emission elements 602.1.1through 602.m.n and the printed circuit board substrate 604 have similargeometric arrangement in FIG. 6, those skilled in the relevant art(s)will recognize the geometric arrangements of the visual emissionelements 602.1.1 through 602.m.n and the printed circuit board substrate604 can differ without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent disclosure. In an exemplary embodiment, the visual emissionelements 602.1.1 through 602.m.n can be situated onto the printedcircuit board substrate 604 using reflow soldering and/or wave solderingto provide some examples. The visual emission elements 602.1.1 through602.m.n can be implemented using light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organiclight-emitting diodes (OLEDs), and/or one or more quantum dots (QDs) toprovide some examples.

Moreover, visual emission elements 602.1.1 through 602.m.n from each rowfrom among the series of m rows are spaced apart from each other by anapproximate row distance d_(R) and visual emission elements 602.1.1through 602.m.n from each column from among the series of n columns arespaced apart from each other by an approximate column distance d_(C) asillustrated in an exploded view 606 of the visual display panel 600 inFIG. 6. In an exemplary embodiment, the row distance d_(R) and thecolumn distance d_(C) are equidistant, for example, approximately six(6) millimeters (mm) or approximately nine (9) mm. However, thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) will recognize that the spacing betweenthe visual emission elements 602.1.1 through 602.m.n can be differentthan as depicted in FIG. 6 without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present disclosure. The row distance d_(R) and the columndistance d_(C) are selectively chosen to provide a relatively smoothviewing experience of the visual representation of the event to the oneor more spectators while taking into consideration the acousticaldistortion of the sound associated with the event as it propagatesthrough the visual display panel 600 to the one or more spectators. Asto be described in further detail below, the visual display panel 600includes openings 608 to allow the sound associated with the event topropagate from the one or more loudspeakers effectively passing throughthe visual display panel 600 onto the one or more spectators. And asillustrated in FIG. 6, sizes and/or shapes of the openings 608 are boundby the row distance d_(R) and the column distance d_(C) with greater rowdistances d_(R) and/or greater column distances d_(C) allowing forlarger openings 608. However, if the row distances d_(R) and/or thecolumn distances d_(C) are too large, the visual representation of theevent can appear pixelated to the one or more spectators. On the otherhand, if the row distances d_(R) and/or the column distances d_(C) aretoo small, the visual display panel 600 can cause significant acousticaldistortion of the sound associated with the event as the soundpropagates through the visual display panel 600.

As described above, the visual display panel 600 includes the openings608 to allow the sound associated with the event to propagate from theone or more loudspeakers to the one or more spectators. As illustratedin FIG. 6, the openings 608 represent geometric regions within thevisual display panel 600 in which the printed circuit board substrate604 has been removed. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6,the openings 608 can be characterized as being rectangular geometricshapes as illustrated in FIG. 6, circular geometric shapes, or polygonalgeometric shapes to provide some examples, and/or any suitable irregulargeometric shapes, such as an irregular polygonal geometric shapes toprovide an example are possible without departing from the spirit andscope of the present disclosure. Optionally, the openings 608 can beradially shaped in accordance with a radius R as illustrated in FIG. 6.This optional radial shaping effectively shapes transitions betweenedges of the openings 608 to further minimize distortion of the sound asthe sound propagates through the visual display panel 600.

In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, the openings 608traverse between columns from among the series of n columns of visualemission elements 602.1.1 through 602.m.n. As illustrated in theexploded view 606, the openings 608 traverse from a first set 610 ofvisual emission elements from among the visual emission elements 602.1.1through 602.m.n along a first column from among the n columns through asecond set 612 of visual emission elements from among the visualemission elements 602.1.1 through 602.m.n to a third set 614 of visualemission elements from among the visual emission elements 602.1.1through 602.m.n along a second column from among the n columns. Thisillustrated arrangement of the openings 608 in the exploded view 606allows control signals, such as the control signals 454.1.1 through454.r.s to provide an example, to be routed through the series of m rowsand the series of n columns to control the operation of the visualemission elements 602.1.1 through 602.m.n. As illustrated in FIG. 6, thevisual display panel 600 includes transmission lines 616.1 through 616.mand transmission lines 618.1 through 618.n to route these controlsignals through the series of m rows and the series of n columns tocontrol the operation of the visual emission elements 602.1.1 through602.m.n. The transmission lines 616.1 through 616.m and transmissionlines 618.1 through 618.n can be implemented using planar waveguides,such as stripline or microstrip to provide some examples. In theexemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, the transmission lines 616.1through 616.m are situated along rows from among the series of m rows toroute these control signals to visual emission elements 602.1.1 through602.m.n along these rows and the transmission lines 618.1 through 618.nare situated along rows from columns the series of n columns to routethese control signals to rows along these columns. Alternatively, or inaddition to, the transmission lines 618.1 through 618.n route thesecontrol signals to visual emission elements 602.1.1 through 602.m.nalong these columns and the transmission lines 616.1 through 616.m routethese control signals to columns along these rows.

CONCLUSION

The Detailed Description referred to accompanying figures to illustrateexemplary embodiments consistent with the disclosure. References in thedisclosure to “an exemplary embodiment” indicates that the exemplaryembodiment described can include a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic, but every exemplary embodiment may not necessarilyinclude the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover,such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same exemplaryembodiment. Further, any feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with an exemplary embodiment can be included,independently or in any combination, with features, structures, orcharacteristics of other exemplary embodiments whether or not explicitlydescribed.

The Detailed Description is not meant to limiting. Rather, the scope ofthe disclosure is defined only in accordance with the following claimsand their equivalents. It is to be appreciated that the DetailedDescription section, and not the Abstract section, is intended to beused to interpret the claims. The Abstract section can set forth one ormore, but not all exemplary embodiments, of the disclosure, and thus,are not intended to limit the disclosure and the following claims andtheir equivalents in any way.

The exemplary embodiments described within the disclosure have beenprovided for illustrative purposes and are not intended to be limiting.Other exemplary embodiments are possible, and modifications can be madeto the exemplary embodiments while remaining within the spirit and scopeof the disclosure. The disclosure has been described with the aid offunctional building blocks illustrating the implementation of specifiedfunctions and relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functionalbuilding blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenienceof the description. Alternate boundaries can be defined so long as thespecified functions and relationships thereof are appropriatelyperformed.

Embodiments of the disclosure can be implemented in hardware, firmware,software application, or any combination thereof. Embodiments of thedisclosure can also be implemented as instructions stored on amachine-readable medium, which can be read and executed by one or moreprocessors. A machine-readable medium can include any mechanism forstoring or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine(e.g., a computing circuitry). For example, a machine-readable mediumcan include non-transitory machine-readable mediums such as read onlymemory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media;optical storage media; flash memory devices; and others. As anotherexample, the machine-readable medium can include transitorymachine-readable medium such as electrical, optical, acoustical, orother forms of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infraredsignals, digital signals, etc.). Further, firmware, softwareapplication, routines, instructions can be described herein asperforming certain actions. However, it should be appreciated that suchdescriptions are merely for convenience and that such actions in factresult from computing devices, processors, controllers, or other devicesexecuting the firmware, software application, routines, instructions,etc.

The Detailed Description of the exemplary embodiments fully revealed thegeneral nature of the disclosure that others can, by applying knowledgeof those skilled in relevant art(s), readily modify and/or adapt forvarious applications such exemplary embodiments, without undueexperimentation, without departing from the spirit and scope of thedisclosure. Therefore, such adaptations and modifications are intendedto be within the meaning and plurality of equivalents of the exemplaryembodiments based upon the teaching and guidance presented herein. It isto be understood that the phraseology or terminology herein is for thepurpose of description and not of limitation, such that the terminologyor phraseology of the present specification is to be interpreted bythose skilled in relevant art(s) in light of the teachings herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A venue for hosting an event, the venuecomprising: a plurality of seats configured to accommodate an audiencethat is to experience the event; and an integrated audio-visual systemconfigured to deliver sound and a visual representation of the event tothe audience, the integrated audio-visual system comprising: aloudspeaker configured to generate the sound; and a visual displayconfigured to deliver the visual representation, the visual displaycomprising a plurality of openings configured to allow the sound topropagate through the visual display, wherein the loudspeaker and thevisual display are situated to be a displacement distance from eachother within the venue to allow a wavefront of the sound to form betweenthe loudspeaker and the visual display before the sound is to propagatethrough the visual display.
 2. The venue of claim 1, wherein the venuecomprises a music theater or a sporting venue, and wherein the eventcomprises a musical event, a theatrical event, a sporting event, or amotion picture.
 3. The venue of claim 1, wherein the loudspeakercomprises one or more super tweeters, one or more tweeters, one or moremid-range speakers, one or more woofers, one or more subwoofers, or oneor more full-range speakers.
 4. The venue of claim 1, wherein the visualdisplay comprises one or more light-emitting diode (LED) displays, oneor more organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, or one or morequantum dots (QDs) displays.
 5. The venue of claim 1, wherein the visualdisplay comprises a plurality of display panels that functionallycooperate to deliver the visual representation of the event, and whereinthe venue further comprises a mechanical housing configured to securethe plurality of visual display panels to one another to form the visualdisplay.
 6. The venue of claim 5, wherein the mechanical housingcomprises a plurality of mechanical cross members configured to securethe plurality of visual display panels as a series of rows and a seriesof columns of visual display panels on the mechanical housing.
 7. Thevenue of claim 1, wherein the sound comprises a plurality of planarwavefronts, and wherein the loudspeaker and the visual display aresituated to be the displacement distance from each other within thevenue to allow a first wavefront from among the plurality of planarwavefronts to form between the loudspeaker and the visual display beforethe sound is to propagate through the visual display.
 8. The venue ofclaim 7, wherein the plurality of planar wavefronts comprise a pluralityof parallel planes of constant phase of the sound that are normal to aphase velocity vector extending from the loudspeaker.
 9. An integratedaudio-visual system, comprising: a loudspeaker configured to generatesound associated with an event; and a visual display configured todeliver a visual representation of the event, the visual displaycomprising a plurality of openings configured to allow the sound topropagate through the visual display, wherein the loudspeaker and thevisual display are situated to be a displacement distance from eachother within a venue to allow a wavefront of the sound to form betweenthe loudspeaker and the visual display before the sound is to propagatethrough the visual display.
 10. The integrated audio-visual system ofclaim 9, wherein the loudspeaker comprises one or more super tweeters,one or more tweeters, one or more mid-range speakers, one or morewoofers, one or more subwoofers, or one or more full-range speakers. 11.The integrated audio-visual system of claim 9, wherein the visualdisplay comprises one or more light-emitting diode (LED) displays, oneor more organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, or one or morequantum dots (QDs) displays.
 12. The integrated audio-visual system ofclaim 9, wherein the visual display comprises a plurality of displaypanels that functionally cooperate to deliver the visual representation,and wherein the integrated audio-visual system further comprises amechanical housing configured to secure the plurality of visual displaypanels to one another to form the visual display.
 13. The integratedaudio-visual system of claim 12, wherein the mechanical housingcomprises a plurality of mechanical cross members configured to securethe plurality of visual display panels as a series of rows and a seriesof columns of visual display panels on the mechanical housing.
 14. Theintegrated audio-visual system of claim 9, wherein the sound comprises aplurality of planar wavefronts, and wherein the loudspeaker and thevisual display are situated to be the displacement distance from eachother within the venue to allow a first wavefront from among theplurality of planar wavefronts to form between the loudspeaker and thevisual display before the sound is to propagate through the visualdisplay.
 15. The integrated audio-visual system of claim 14, wherein theplurality of planar wavefronts comprise a plurality of parallel planesof constant phase of the sound that are normal to a phase velocityvector extending from the loudspeaker.
 16. The integrated audio-visualsystem of claim 9, wherein the displacement distance is 50 centimeters(cm).
 17. A method for delivering sound associated with an event to anaudience within a venue, the method comprising: generating, by aloudspeaker, the sound; forming a wavefront of the sound before thesound is to propagate through a visual display; and propagating thesound through the visual display to the audience within the venue. 18.The method of claim 17, wherein the propagating comprises propagatingthe sound through a plurality of openings of the visual display.
 19. Themethod of claim 17, further comprising situating the loudspeaker and thevisual display a displacement distance from each other within the venueto allow the wavefront of the sound to form between the loudspeaker andthe visual display before the sound is to propagate through the visualdisplay.
 20. The method of claim 17, further comprising delivering, bythe visual display, a visual representation of the event to the audiencewithin the venue.